CHICO, Calif. – The Chico State baseball team played small ball to get a huge win Sunday. The Wildcats laid down six bunts, used the hit-and-run play three times, and stole three bases in a 7-5 victory over Cal Poly Pomona to complete a four-game series sweep and close the Wildcats to within a half game of second place in the CCAA.
Starter Joel Garcia logged five strong innings, allowing just one run, and the Wildcats led from the bottom of the first inning on. Garcia allowed a run in the fifth, snapping his streak of 17 consecutive innings without an earned run, but still earned the victory to improve to 3-1 on the season. Jr. Garcia tossed the final two-plus frames for his second save in as many games and third on the season.
The 16th-ranked Wildcats, winners of six straight and 14 of their last 16, are now 27-9 overall and 16-7 in the CCAA. They trail both UC San Diego (which they face in a four-game series beginning Friday in La Jolla) and Cal State Stanislaus by a half game in the CCAA standings. Cal Poly Pomona fell to 7-24 overall and 4-14 in the CCAA with its ninth consecutive loss.
Josh Meagher doubled twice and drove in three runs to pace the Chico State offense. Jimmy Dodos was 3-for-4 with two RBI, and Joey Burke went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBI from his leadoff spot.
The Wildcats set the tone of the game early as Burke led off the bottom of the first with a walk, moved to second on Dodos’ hit-and-run single, and both runners advanced to Bret Ringer’s sacrifice bunt. Meagher drove in both runners with a double to left-center to give Chico State a 2-0 lead.
They made it 3-0 in the second when Travis DeCoito led off with a base hit, proceeded to second on Shane Farmer’s sacrifice bunt, stole third base, and then scored when Burke laid a bunt down the first-base line.
With Garcia cruising, allowing just two hits over the first four frames, Chico State continued to add to its lead. Farmer reached on an error leading off the fourth, Eveland followed with a bunt single, and Burke slapped a hit-and-run single through the right side to plate Farmer for a 4-0 lead. They tacked on another run when Dodos’ sacrifice bunt brought Eveland home to make it 5-0.
Cal Poly Pomona broke through in the fifth when A.J. Cavaletto drew a two-out walk and Jose Villa ripped an RBI-double down the left field line to make it 5-1.
Chico State added what proved to be an important insurance run in the sixth. Eveland walked, stole second, and scored on Dodos’ base hit for a 6-1 lead.
The visiting Broncos, who had been outscored in the series 32-7 up until that point, continued to battle, however. Cavaletto drew a two-out walk in the seventh, Villa singled, and Frank Klopp’s base hit drove in a run, and then Manuel Navarro walked to bring the tying run to the plate. Kyle Boggio drew a walk to plate another run and then Chris Brehm singled through the left side to make it 6-4. But with the bases still loaded, Jr. Garcia got called from the bullpen to try to quell the rally, and the senior succeeded. He got Joshua Potter to ground out to third base to end the inning.
The Broncos cut the lead to 6-5 in the eighth when John Daniels led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Chris Wilson’s groundout. But Chico State made it a two-run game again by answering with a run of its own in the bottom-half of the frame. Burke reached on an error leading off the frame and scoring on Meagher’s double to right-center field.
Garcia then got Boggio to ground into a game-ending double play in the ninth.
Villa, the only Cal Poly Pomona player with more than one hit, finished 3-for-4. Broncos starter Sheldon McGregor (1-4) went only one-and-a-third innings and took the loss. He allowed three runs on four hits and two walks.
Chico State will travel to face UC San Diego for a four-game series next weekend beginning with a single game Friday at 3 p.m. They’ll return home to face Cal State Dominguez Hills for a four-game series April 18-20, and following a non-conference doubleheader against Patten College on April 28, they’ll conclude the regular season with a four-game series at Cal State San Bernardino May 2-4.
Box Score
Chico State Wildcats
Cal Poly Pomona at #16 Chico State
Apr 06, 2008 at Chico, Calif. (Nettleton Stadium)
Cal Poly Pomona 5 (7-24,4-14 CCAA)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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KLOPP, Frank cf.......... 5 1 1 1 0 0 2 0 2
NAVARRO, Manuel 2b....... 3 0 0 0 1 1 2 2 0
RINGHOLM, Jeff ph....... 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
BOGGIO, Kyle rf.......... 4 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 0
BREHM, Chris c........... 3 0 1 1 0 1 4 0 0
POTTER, Joshua 3b........ 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 5
DANIELS, John lf......... 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 0
WILSON, Chris 1b......... 3 0 0 1 1 0 9 1 0
CAVALETTO, A.J. dh....... 2 2 0 0 2 1 0 0 0
VILLA, Joe ss............ 4 1 3 1 0 0 1 2 0
McGREGOR, Sheldon p...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
MOZLEY, Brandon p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
HUNTER, Sean p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Totals................... 33 5 8 5 5 4 24 10 7
Chico State 7 (27-9,16-7 CCAA)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BURKE, Joey lf........... 3 2 1 2 1 0 1 0 0
DODOS, Jimmy rf.......... 4 1 3 2 0 0 2 0 0
RINGER, Bret 3b.......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 1 4 1
MEAGHER, Josh dh......... 5 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 4
VICTOR, Nick pr......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
DEE, Cody c.............. 4 0 1 0 1 1 3 2 0
SEAVER, Kevin 1b......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 13 0 1
DeCOITO, Travis 2b....... 4 1 1 0 1 1 4 6 3
FARMER, Shane cf......... 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 0
EVELAND, Kyle ss......... 2 2 1 0 2 1 2 3 3
GARCIA, Joel p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GONZALEZ, Ivan p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GIBSON, Kyle p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GARCIA, Jr. p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 32 7 10 7 6 4 27 15 12
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Cal Poly Pomona..... 000 010 310 - 5 8 3
Chico State......... 210 201 01X - 7 10 0
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E - VILLA 2; McGREGOR. DP - CPP 1; Chico 2. LOB - CPP 7; Chico 12. 2B -
DANIELS; VILLA; MEAGHER 2; SEAVER. HBP - BREHM; SEAVER. SH - BURKE; DODOS;
RINGER; FARMER. SB - DODOS; DeCOITO; EVELAND.
Cal Poly Pomona IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
McGREGOR, Sheldon... 1.1 4 3 3 2 0 5 10 -
MOZLEY, Brandon..... 4.2 4 3 2 1 1 18 20 -
HUNTER, Sean........ 2.0 2 1 0 3 3 9 13 -
Chico State IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
GARCIA, Joel........ 5.0 3 1 1 2 3 17 19 -
GONZALEZ, Ivan...... 1.2 1 2 2 1 0 6 8 -
GIBSON, Kyle........ 0.0 2 1 1 2 0 2 4 -
GARCIA, Jr.......... 2.1 2 1 1 0 1 8 8 -
Win - GARCIA, Jo (3-1). Loss - McGREGOR (1-4). Save - GARCIA, Jr. (3).
WP - GARCIA, Jo; GARCIA, Jr.. HBP - by GONZALEZ (BREHM); by HUNTER (SEAVER). PB
- BREHM. Inherited runners/scored: MOZLEY 2/0; GIBSON 2/2; GARCIA, Jr. 3/0.
Pitches/strikes: None.
Umpires - HP: Eric Martinez 1B: Dan Boutwell 2B: John Kinard
Start: 12:00 Time: 2:54 Attendance: 355
Game notes:
Wildcats complete series sweep with sixth straight win and 14th win in last
16 games. Joey Burke has now hit safely in nine straight games. The earned
run against Joel Garcia in the fifth broke his streak of 17 consecutive
innings without an earned run.
GIBSON faced 4 batters in the 7th.
